Share funds with all our local parks

Greenville County has a wonderful system of attractive parks but lacks the money to maintain them properly. A modest tax increase in the parts of the county that are in the Greenville County Recreation District would provide for such needed maintenance. That obvious solution has always met with political opposition.

The solution slipped through over the past two months will provide such desperately needed funds, but it does so at the expense of fairness to city residents in Greenville, Greer, Simpsonville and Mauldin unless Greenville County Council devises a plan that ensures these residents get a direct benefit for the new taxes they soon will be paying.

A transparent and openly discussed plan failed in 2008 to dissolve the Greenville County Recreation District and replace it with a new creature that would have assumed responsibility for the entire county including the four cities that have their own recreation programs funded by those cities' residents. That law was fundamentally flawed, and one of the biggest problems was that it gave no input to the four cities involved in such a significant change.

Five years later, a plan slipped through the state Legislature that would allow the county to dissolve the Recreation District and transfer its assets to Greenville County. That plan was quickly approved by the Recreation District Commission and then this week it sailed through Greenville County Council despite opposition during a public hearing and some dissent on the County Council. Again, the four cities were not involved.

Now it is time to involve those cities as the details are being worked out for the tax millage that will be used to fund county recreation. Otherwise, this effort will be seen as nothing more than double taxation of city residents.

"This is a way to get into the pocket of people that live in municipalities," County Councilman Joe Baldwin of Greer said at Tuesday's council meeting. Greer is one of the cities that have protested being blindsided by this plan rushed through the Legislature, Recreation District Commission and County Council.

Simpsonville Mayor Perry Eichor said "there's been absolutely no discussion" with his city about this plan and "now we have to make lemonade out of lemons."

This much is clear: Attractive and inviting parks are important to the overall quality of life of Greenville County and the cities that are part of this county. Families looking for a place to move often take into account amenities such as safe parks that provide for fun places to play and exercise. Companies also consider such features when looking for a place to set up shop.

Four cities chose not to be part of the Greenville County Recreation District. Greenville and Greer opted out when the district was formed in 1968, and Simpsonville and Mauldin parted company in the late 1990s because the poorly funded Rec District was not meeting their needs.

Each of these cities has parks that serve their residents and many others from outside the city limits. Those city residents pay their share for Falls Park, Heritage Park and other amenities.

Eichor and other city leaders are holding out some hope that Greenville County officials will be willing to discuss some options that will allow their residents to reap some direct and tangible benefits for the extra taxes they will be paying.

As it now stands, taxpayers in the Recreation District area pay 4.6 mills for the operation and maintenance of county parks. County officials are discussing proposals that would allow for an overall reduction of that millage to account for the larger tax base. One estimate is that those residents would see a $10 decrease on their property tax bills while residents of Greenville, Greer, Mauldin and Simpsonville would see a $20 increase.

Two thoughts should guide County Council as it works through setting up the new millage.

First, the plan should be worked out so those city residents hit with new taxes see a direct and tangible benefit for those higher tax bill that they will get. It could be in form of a direct payment to those cities for the maintenance and operations of their own parks, or it could include some assistance for maintenance and upkeep. Such an agreement would be fair and it would reflect well on Greenville County Council.

Second, the county should avoid setting the new millage so low as to underfund the operation and maintenance of these popular parks that are showing wear and tear. A county aversion to paying for the upkeep, after all, has created this problem. When new parks were being discussed in 2002, this editorial page warned that County Council did not have a plan in place to keep the parks operating. One councilman at that time famously said, "We've got to build them before we can think about financing the upkeep."

Parks do not operate themselves. They need constant maintenance and occasional improvements. County Council should ensure that adequate millage is in place to maintain these parks.